Facilitating this revolution [of ICT in Indian farming] is the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT)-promoted Virtual Academy for Semi Arid Tropics (VASAT)....
VASAT aims to link rural farm communities with researchers, intermediaries and markets through an interface of information and communication technology and open and distance learning methods....
[F]or the first time ICRISAT, in collaboration with the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, has launched an initiative to promote open access information sources in agricultural sciences and technology in India. It is planning to establish two pilot open access information repositories in the agricultural domain within the first year. One would be in Delhi with support from ICAR, and the other in Hyderabad with support from ICRISAT and National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management (MANAGE).
The new initiative is expected to create a new platform for information sharing on agricultural research in India. Says PM Bhargava, vice chairman of Indian National Knowledge Commission, the technology and application can take agricultural information sharing into a new paradigm. Though open access documentation systems have been popular in many other areas of science communication in India, it is not being used in agricultural research documentation. The initiative has been launched to bridge this gap, he adds.
It will also implement lessons learnt from existing global open access systems such as AGRIS, the international information system for the agricultural sciences and technology, initiated by FAO. The AGRIS Secretariat in Rome has taken up several new initiatives in the last few years in face of the exponential growth in available information on agricultural research. Development of new metadata (information that describes how, when and by whom data has been collected and formatted) standards to share information coupled with open source software now in use can ensure open access for users worldwide....
Posted by
Peter Suber at 11/20/2006 08:10:00 AM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
I recommend the OA tracking project (OATP) as the best way to stay on top of new OA developments. You can read the OATP feed on a blog-like web page or subscribe to it by RSS, email, or Twitter. You can also help build the feed by tagging new developments you encounter.
